{"id":13023,"date":"2017-09-16T08:00:45","date_gmt":"2017-09-16T13:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/?p=13023"},"modified":"2017-09-15T21:26:41","modified_gmt":"2017-09-16T02:26:41","slug":"can-height-increase-risk-for-blood-clots-in-veins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/2017\/09\/16\/can-height-increase-risk-for-blood-clots-in-veins\/","title":{"rendered":"Can height increase risk for blood clots in veins?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"lead\">Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics Journal Report<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-56563\" title=\"American Heart Association\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/American-Heart-Association-new-logo-480x230.jpg\" alt=\"American Heart Association\" height=\"115\" width=\"240\"><strong>Dallas, TX<\/strong> &#8211; The taller you are, the more likely you may be to develop blood clots in the veins, according to new research in the American Heart Association journal <a href=\"http:\/\/circgenetics.ahajournals.org\/\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In a study of more than two million Swedish siblings, researchers found that the risk of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.heart.org\/HEARTORG\/Conditions\/More\/What-is-Venous-Thromboembolism-VTE_UCM_479052_Article.jsp\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">venous thromboembolism<\/a> \u2013 a type of blood clot that starts in a vein \u2013 was associated with height, with the lowest risk being in shorter participants.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_344773\" style=\"width: 490px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/clot-formation-in-carotid-artery.jpg\"  class=\"thickbox no_icon\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-344773\" class=\"wp-image-344773 size-medium\" title=\"Risk of blood clots in the veins was associated with height, with the lowest risk in participants who were five feet tall or shorter. (American Heart Association)\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/clot-formation-in-carotid-artery-480x320.jpg\" alt=\"Risk of blood clots in the veins was associated with height, with the lowest risk in participants who were five feet tall or shorter. (American Heart Association)\" height=\"320\" width=\"480\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-344773\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Risk of blood clots in the veins was associated with height, with the lowest risk in participants who were five feet tall or shorter. (American Heart Association)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h3>They also found:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>For men shorter than 5\u20193\u201d, the risk for venous thromboembolism dropped 65 percent when compared to the men 6\u20192\u201d or taller.<\/li>\n<li>For women, shorter than 5\u20191\u201d who were pregnant for the first time, the risk for venous thromboembolism dropped 69 percent, compared to women that were 6 feet or taller.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cHeight is not something we can do anything about,\u201d said lead researcher Bengt Z\u00f6ller, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor at Lund University and Malm\u00f6 University Hospital in Malm\u00f6, Sweden. \u201cHowever, the height in the population has increased, and continues increasing, which could be contributing to the fact that the incidence of thrombosis has increased.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The CDC estimates venous thromboembolism affects up to 600,000 Americans every year, making it the third leading cause of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.heart.org\/HEARTORG\/Conditions\/HeartAttack\/Heart-Attack_UCM_001092_SubHomePage.jsp\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">heart attack<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.strokeassociation.org\/STROKEORG\/AboutStroke\/About-Stroke_UCM_308529_SubHomePage.jsp\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">stroke<\/a>. The most common triggers are surgery, cancer, immobilization and hospitalization. In women, pregnancy and use of hormones like oral contraceptive or estrogen for menopause symptoms are also important triggers.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Treatments for VTE\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_rY_VlLEjlw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Z\u00f6ller said gravity may influence the association between height and venous thromboembolism risk. \u201cIt could just be that because taller individuals have longer leg veins there is more surface area where problems can occur,\u201d Z\u00f6ller said. \u201cThere is also more gravitational pressure in leg veins of taller persons that can increase the risk of blood flow slowing or temporarily stopping.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>[320left]One caution is that researchers didn\u2019t have access to data for childhood and parent lifestyle factors such as smoking, diet and physical activity. In addition, the study consisted primarily of Swedish people and may not be translatable to the U.S. population. Although, researchers note, the Swedish population nowadays is as ethnically diverse as the U.S. population.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we should start to include height in risk assessment just as overweight, although formal studies are needed to determine exactly how height interacts with inherited blood disorders and other conditions,\u201d Z\u00f6ller said.<\/p>\n<p>Co-authors are Jinguang Ji, M.D., Ph.D.; Jan Sundquist, M.D., Ph.D., and Kristina Sundquist, M.D., Ph.D. Author disclosures are on the manuscript.<\/p>\n<p>This study was supported by the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research and the Swedish Freemasons\u2019 Foundation, ALF-funding (Academic Learning and Research grants) from faculty of Medicine, Lund University and Region Sk\u00e5ne.<\/p>\n<h3>Additional Resources:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Link to study related video available on the right column of the release link: <a href=\"http:\/\/newsroom.heart.org\/news\/can-height-increase-risk-for-blood-clots-in-veins?preview=b630ae6d83c7cb15e449d273aceb8764\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/newsroom.heart.org\/news\/can-height-increase-risk-for-blood-clots-in-veins?preview=b630ae6d83c7cb15e449d273aceb8764<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Add heart.org or other AHA\/ASA resource links if needed.<\/li>\n<li>Follow AHA\/ASA news on Twitter <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HeartNews\" title=\"@HeartNews\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@HeartNews<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Visit <\/span><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.heart.org\/vascular\" ><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\">www.heart.org\/vascular<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> for more information about VTE and other vascular conditions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics Journal Report Dallas, TX &#8211; The taller you are, the more likely you may be to develop blood clots in the veins, according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics. In a study of more than two million Swedish siblings, researchers found that the risk of venous [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[2538,7554,1297,6774,4030,11796,2542,2543],"class_list":["post-13023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","tag-american-heart-association","tag-blood-clot","tag-cdc","tag-circulation","tag-dallas-tx","tag-gravity","tag-heart-attack","tag-stroke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13023"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13024,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13023\/revisions\/13024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}